After trying for almost a year, on 31st July 2010, a pregnancy test confirmed that I was about 4 weeks 3 days pregnant with our first child! And I was so excited, I went straight in to Lukes work to tell him the great news! That same day we told all our family and over the next couple of days told everyone else we knew! Yes we told everyone very early, but we decided from that first day that no matter what we were going to celebrate and enjoy our baby for however long we had it!
Next, someone suggested finding a midwife asap as the good ones get booked pretty quick... and so we did, and I must say we got a fantastic midwife!
On August 8 I had some bleeding. We went to the doctor the next day and after seeing a very insensitive on call doctor who appeared to have very little idea about pregnancy, I had bloods done to check my HCG levels... initially they were fine, then I had a scan, which showed that there was a pregnancy but it was too early to tell if it was live or not... So we went home, still uncertain about whether our baby was alive.
A couple of days later I had more bloods done and then more a couple of days after that, my HCG levels continued to rise, but not as expected so it was a wait and see game... the doctor wanted me to continue to have more bloods done but since they were not giving us definate answers and the wait each time was just causing emotional turmoil, we said no more bloods and waited for a scan at what turned out to be at 6 weeks 6 days, and to our extreme relief and joy, we could see a healthy, strong heartbeat!
So we continued to celebrate and enjoy our baby!
Almost 6 weeks later, at our first official midwife appointment (12 weeks 2 days) we got to hear our babys heartbeat on the doppler... this was again a massive relief and cause for excitement! The very next day we had a scan. And this was the beginning of seeing our babys personality!
Our baby wriggled and kicked through the whole scan, making the scan technicians job rather difficult, but giving Luke and I cause to smile and even laugh! When the scan technician was trying to get pictures of our baby's face, the baby would turn its head the other way! The lady kept commenting about how active our baby was! :)
And so we continued to celebrate our baby!
On Thursday November 25th, at 20 weeks 2 days, we had a scan and discovered we were having a baby girl! Again, very exciting news and cause for shopping! Again we watched our babys personality come out during the scan, she was stubborn and cheeky! When the scan technician was trying to check her face for cleft palate (or something) our baby girl put both your hands up in front of her face and no matter how much she prodded and pushed our baby around, she wouldnt remove them, in the end the scan technician had to move on and come back. Again we laughed, but again the technician didn't!
However there was a downer to our scan... from what the scan technician could see, our baby girl only had half a heart, a diaphragmatic hernia and a 6th toe on one foot (like a 6th toe mattered at all!). The news was hard as it was explained that it was all very serious, but while we shared the news with others, we also continued to celebrate our baby, now more than ever! We had appointments and scans at Waikato hospital with specialists and were eventually referred to Auckland Hospital.
We prayed for a miracle and I know we had many, many people praying and hoping for a miracle with us.
On Christmas morning, we were listening to our baby girls heart and movements with a doppler we have and Luke decided we would see what she thought of the list of names we had. One of the names was Lily, and each time Luke spoke the name Lily, she would kick and wriggle about, but for every other name she lay completely still... and so she became our lovely Lily... then we gave her a middle name the same as mine, Tyne.
Each scan seemed to bring more bad news, with the diaphragmatic hernia, more and more things seemed to be moving into her chest area, pressing on her lungs and heart. A plan was made for us to have her up in Auckland where the best team was for cardiac things, we were preparing to go up to Auckland at 38 weeks and wait out the rest of the pregnancy.
Despite the constant bad news they continued to deliver, we continued to love, celebrate and enjoy our lovely Lily Tyne. Each kick and movement, while sometimes uncomfortable, brought great joy.
We were surrounded by family and friends that loved us and Lily and joined us in celebrating her life for as long as she was with us.
Then on Thursday March 10th (at 35 weeks 2 days) we had another appointment in Auckland where we were hoping they would be able to give us some plan for what would happen after Lilys birth... the things they could try to fix her heart and hernia... instead, they told us there was nothing they could do for our baby girl when she was born. This news was heartbreaking to say the least...
The next couple of days Luke and I had to make hard decisions, but we decided we would have Lily down in Waikato and there was to be no intervention from the medical profession... we were going to enjoy every second we had with her.
The next day was my final day at work, my maternity leave started on Monday... A week later, she was born!
On August 8 I had some bleeding. We went to the doctor the next day and after seeing a very insensitive on call doctor who appeared to have very little idea about pregnancy, I had bloods done to check my HCG levels... initially they were fine, then I had a scan, which showed that there was a pregnancy but it was too early to tell if it was live or not... So we went home, still uncertain about whether our baby was alive.
A couple of days later I had more bloods done and then more a couple of days after that, my HCG levels continued to rise, but not as expected so it was a wait and see game... the doctor wanted me to continue to have more bloods done but since they were not giving us definate answers and the wait each time was just causing emotional turmoil, we said no more bloods and waited for a scan at what turned out to be at 6 weeks 6 days, and to our extreme relief and joy, we could see a healthy, strong heartbeat!
So we continued to celebrate and enjoy our baby!
Almost 6 weeks later, at our first official midwife appointment (12 weeks 2 days) we got to hear our babys heartbeat on the doppler... this was again a massive relief and cause for excitement! The very next day we had a scan. And this was the beginning of seeing our babys personality!
Our baby wriggled and kicked through the whole scan, making the scan technicians job rather difficult, but giving Luke and I cause to smile and even laugh! When the scan technician was trying to get pictures of our baby's face, the baby would turn its head the other way! The lady kept commenting about how active our baby was! :)
And so we continued to celebrate our baby!
On Thursday November 25th, at 20 weeks 2 days, we had a scan and discovered we were having a baby girl! Again, very exciting news and cause for shopping! Again we watched our babys personality come out during the scan, she was stubborn and cheeky! When the scan technician was trying to check her face for cleft palate (or something) our baby girl put both your hands up in front of her face and no matter how much she prodded and pushed our baby around, she wouldnt remove them, in the end the scan technician had to move on and come back. Again we laughed, but again the technician didn't!
However there was a downer to our scan... from what the scan technician could see, our baby girl only had half a heart, a diaphragmatic hernia and a 6th toe on one foot (like a 6th toe mattered at all!). The news was hard as it was explained that it was all very serious, but while we shared the news with others, we also continued to celebrate our baby, now more than ever! We had appointments and scans at Waikato hospital with specialists and were eventually referred to Auckland Hospital.
We prayed for a miracle and I know we had many, many people praying and hoping for a miracle with us.
On Christmas morning, we were listening to our baby girls heart and movements with a doppler we have and Luke decided we would see what she thought of the list of names we had. One of the names was Lily, and each time Luke spoke the name Lily, she would kick and wriggle about, but for every other name she lay completely still... and so she became our lovely Lily... then we gave her a middle name the same as mine, Tyne.
Each scan seemed to bring more bad news, with the diaphragmatic hernia, more and more things seemed to be moving into her chest area, pressing on her lungs and heart. A plan was made for us to have her up in Auckland where the best team was for cardiac things, we were preparing to go up to Auckland at 38 weeks and wait out the rest of the pregnancy.
Despite the constant bad news they continued to deliver, we continued to love, celebrate and enjoy our lovely Lily Tyne. Each kick and movement, while sometimes uncomfortable, brought great joy.
We were surrounded by family and friends that loved us and Lily and joined us in celebrating her life for as long as she was with us.
Then on Thursday March 10th (at 35 weeks 2 days) we had another appointment in Auckland where we were hoping they would be able to give us some plan for what would happen after Lilys birth... the things they could try to fix her heart and hernia... instead, they told us there was nothing they could do for our baby girl when she was born. This news was heartbreaking to say the least...
The next couple of days Luke and I had to make hard decisions, but we decided we would have Lily down in Waikato and there was to be no intervention from the medical profession... we were going to enjoy every second we had with her.
The next day was my final day at work, my maternity leave started on Monday... A week later, she was born!
